MyPACK Policy Brief: Localizing Canadian Cross-Border Humanitarian Aid

Issue Statement

In 2022, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) commissioned a study to better understand how the international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) they fund view localization. Localization is broadly defined in the report as “shifting power and resources to local actors in the Global South” (Rao 2023, 2). The report recommends further research on perspectives from local communities and decolonization. It also discusses how localization is challenged by strict government compliance measures that can prohibit funding. These challenges and recommendations echo studies emerging from Myanmar, where a growing body of literature shows that local networks are more effective at aid delivery than large INGOs, and supporting local aid groups builds long term governance capacity. There is a pressing need for governments, funding agencies, and INGOs to increasingly direct funding to local, on the ground organizations and adapt complex compliance requirements for these groups, so they may focus their efforts on efficient and effective aid delivery.

Summary

Myanmar received nearly half a billion dollars in coordinated public aid funding in 2023, with the United Nations (UN) stating about double that amount is needed to meet the massive humanitarian needs in the country (OCHA 2023). In Myanmar, local and national community-governed organizations have been delivering humanitarian aid and social services–including health care, education, food and goods distribution–for decades, in coordination with INGOs and large agencies like the UN. Challenges for aid delivery in Myanmar include the geographic complexity of working within underdeveloped regions, as well as with migrant and refugee populations across borders; operating cross-culturally and cross-linguistically working in territories run by armed groups; and the fact that Myanmar’s central government has been a dictatorship that INGOs and funders have felt compelled to work with, while also recognizing that it is the cause of humanitarian crises (Nilsen 2020; Worley 2024). Given these challenges, observers have long noted that local relief workers and alternative aid models outside official pathways are more efficient at aid delivery than large groups (Kang 2012). After the 2021 military coup, Myanmar fell into a deeper humanitarian crisis due to conflict and mass displacement. Since then numerous studies have emerged to show that local organizations’ unique understanding of, access to, and trust within communities has put them at the forefront of humanitarian efforts: they are more effective and efficient at aid delivery than large INGOs. They serve as productive partners for international organizations, facilitating engagement with local actors and networks, and have been growing in efficiency, coordination, and reach. However, community-governed organizations are frequently sidelined from decision-making and resource distribution, confined to the position of subcontractors overseen by foreign organizations (Wells, Décobert & Anonymous 2023). Rigid international compliance standards restrict the efficacy of local humanitarian activities, and hinder the knowledges and practices of local aid groups (Nwe Hlaing, Wells & Décobert 2024). In response, experts advocate for policy changes on the part of multinational corporations and donors, recommending they collaborate with local stakeholders to establish feasible compliance standards that enhance local institutions (Wells 2024). Civil society organizations can play a key role in democratizing processes throughout the country, and their empowerment will result in a more stabilized social system across the country (Kamal & Fujimatsu 2024; Independent Research Network 2022). Additionally, when large agencies are required to move money through the Myanmar regime and the banks it effectively controls, not only do they lose huge amounts to unbalanced foreign exchange rates, the junta and its allies directly profit from this (Bissinger 2024). A paradigm shift in donor priorities toward more localization and flexibility can better align with the reality and needs of Myanmar's diverse and marginalized groups. This transformation is critical to improving the efficacy, equality, and sustainability of humanitarian aid in the region.

Key Takeaways

1. Local humanitarian groups in Myanmar are critical players in aid delivery due to their access to and relationships with local populations.
2. Current development assistance evaluations in Myanmar indicate the need for donors to adjust their objectives to increase aid effectiveness and responsiveness: they must prioritize support for the work of local aid groups over management of these groups.
3. International donors face challenges in addressing regional disparities in Myanmar, primarily benefiting central areas, necessitating more targeted strategies for effective regional inequality resolution (Fumagalli & Kemmerlin 2022). Local organizations are often better equipped to reach these regions.
4. International donors' efforts to regulate and codify partnerships with local civil society organizations in Myanmar can marginalize essential local expertise and have unexpected consequences such as lower efficacy and autonomy for local groups (Décobert et al. 2024).
5. International compliance procedures are frequently inflexible and top-down, posing challenges for local assistance workers in Myanmar. More adaptable and contextually suitable frameworks that enhance rather than degrade local capacities are needed.
6. The military manipulates foreign exchange policy to extract rents through investment and trade (Bissinger 2024). Humanitarian aid should go through channels that do not enrich the regime, including existing and emerging cross-border trade and finance activities.
7. "Resistance humanitarianism" is an emerging strategy in which local networks oppose military rule and advocate for a federal democratic future, emphasizing the importance of people-centered humanitarian services. Local organizations in Myanmar reject military authority, while working for a federal democratic future (Kamal & Fujimatsu 2024).

The full brief document and accompanying reference can be found here: Localizing Canadian Cross-Border Humanitarian Aid.

The Myanmar Policy and Community Knowledge (MyPACK) Hub is housed at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto and is supported by the International Development Research Centre’s Knowledge for Democracy-Myanmar (K4DM) Initiative.